Spring Veggie Tacos with Avocado Cream

McKel Hill, MS, RDN, LDN

Founder

Even if I’m a day past official Cinco de Mayo, I figured I can’t be the only one out there enjoying this holiday all week long! I adore Mexican inspired food with fresh and simple ingredients and this holiday is no exception. Living a plant-based they’re are a lot of options in Mexican cuisine for entrees including beans, rice, and vegetables that make delicious vegetarian friendly dishes. My mission was to turn tacos, something that’s traditionally not vegan/vegetarian, and make it plant-based by utilizing beans, veggies, roasted sweet potatoes, walnuts, and other delicious components.

This post definitely should be saved in your Recipe Box, it’s two recipes in one post! I’m sharing the Veggie Taco filling and a delicious fluffy and creamy Avocado Cream. All of which can be used together, which is the best in my opinion, but you can also use these individually. I love using the brown rice or corn tortillas with these tacos coupled with the Avocado Cream is an amazing combination of flavors and textures.

Try it plant-based. I double dare you to get crazy this Cinco de Mayo and try eating tacos completely meat free (!), yes I double dare you. Traditionally when most of us think of tacos, we think of them being filled with pork, beef, chicken, or even fish. There’s nothing wrong with having those fillings, but I’m on a mission to get you to enjoy those veggies more often than not and to do so requires some really awesome plant-based ingredients. I do love some fish tacos every now and then, but I really love this Veggie Taco filling loaded with crispy sweet potatoes, starchy beans, sauteed peppers and meaty walnuts. When you look at the filling, it visually resembles traditional taco fillings, which is great for those who are transitioning into eating plant-based or experimenting with it one recipe at a time.

This veggie Taco filling is loaded with healthy fats, protein, and fiber all of which are important to incorporate into a plant-based diet, but especially for an entree. Also, the walnuts, beans, and sweet potatoes contain awesome nutrients such as iron, magnesium, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin E; couple these nutrients (especially the iron) with the vitamin C rich bell peppers and you have instantly increased your bodies ability to absorb the non-heme iron (a.k.a. plant-based iron) from the taco filling. Win!

How to use |

Veggie Taco Filling // in addition to using this recipe with the Spring Veggie Tacos, you can also use it as a protein rich topping for your Nourish Bowl or One Bowl Skillet Meal. You can also use this to make nachos with just with baked corn tortillas!

Avocado Cream // in addition to using this recipe with the Spring Veggie Tacos, you can also use it as a creamy dollop on baked potatoes, dolloped on soup, stews, on top of salads for a creamy addition, or on any hot plate for a fresh and creamy replacement for sour cream.

Bake chopped sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon coconut oil, a dash of cinnamon and cumin for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

Set aside the baked sweet potatoes for later.

While the sweet potatoes are cooking prepare everything else.

First, in a food processor or blender pulse the chickpeas and walnuts together to create a coarsely chopped mixture.

In a medium heated skillet, add 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil, chopped walnuts, beans, and seasonings. Stir to warm through and combine, adding a little bit of water as needed to bring the mixture together.

Cook/warm through for about 5 minutes, add baked sweet potatoes last and only to toss around in the spices with everything else.

This stays well in the refrigerator for up to a week and makes great leftovers.

Enjoy!

Notes

TACO SEASONING // feel free to use your favorite taco seasoning to taste if you’d prefer versus adding individual spices.[br]FILLING // add salsa, avocado cream, or my classic cashew cheese as a topping to the filling to keep this moist. When reheating, simply add a bit of water or any above condiments to keep it from drying out.

3.2.2700

Avocado Creme

Recipe Type: dip, sauce, dressing

Author: McKel Hill, MS, RD, LDN

Prep time: 5 mins

Total time: 5 mins

Serves: 6+

A delicious, creamy, and fluffy avocado cream perfect to use with tacos or with any dish

Ingredients

2 avocados

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon olive oil

juice of 1 lime (about 3 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon sea salt

ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Blend all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until thick and creamy.

Keep chilled until using.

Enjoy!

3.2.2499

I hope you all LOVE this recipe as much as I have been enjoying eating it! It was also so fun to shoot this recipe, I turned up some salsa music, made a raw margarita (sans alcohol… what, it was 12 in the afternoon?), and nibbled along the way- you know to taste test. As always, I love when you all share and support Nutrition Stripped by spreading the word 🙂

Enjoy and stay tuned tomorrow for another awesome Cinco de Mayo inspired recipe(s)!

xx

McKel

By:

McKel Hill, MS, RDN, LDN

Founder

Nutrition is our jam. Nutrition Stripped is a modern take on the science of nutrition and healthy living — making it accessible, inspirational, and simple. We believe living whole and eating well make you feel amazing.

Directions:

Bake chopped sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon coconut oil, a dash of cinnamon and cumin for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

Set aside the baked sweet potatoes for later.

While the sweet potatoes are cooking prepare everything else.

First, in a food processor or blender pulse the chickpeas and walnuts together to create a coarsely chopped mixture.

In a medium heated skillet, add 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil, chopped walnuts, beans, and seasonings. Stir to warm through and combine, adding a little bit of water as needed to bring the mixture together.

Cook/warm through for about 5 minutes, add baked sweet potatoes last and only to toss around in the spices with everything else.

It is never too late for delicious Mexican food! I like to celebrate Cinco De Mayo all year long! I love how you used the crispy sweet potatoes and chopped up walnuts for the tacos, sounds filling and delicious 🙂

These look delicious! I’ll have to give these a go sometime soon. I love everything you post and have tested most recipes – my husband and I are major fans! However, I do have one question; my husband was recently diagnosed with a peanut allergy, any suggestions on replacing the walnuts? We could probably remove them all together but if there are any tips, please do send them my way. Thanks again!

Hi Natalie! So glad you and your husband have been enjoying the recipes, I appreciate your kind words and supporting my blog! If he has a peanut allergy, walnuts are fine! If not, you can use sunflower seeds to play it safe, although the texture will be different 🙂

No, they’re raw walnuts, but you can use roasted/salted if you choose- you’ll need to adjust the seasonings in the mix so it’s not too salty 🙂

Leslie

Made these tonight and my family loved them. I didn’t even tell my kids that it wasn’t meat, and no one seemed to notice the change! I’m wondering if there might be any way to make them a little juicier…maybe I overcooked the beans but it seemed a little dry.

How great Lesli! The filling is meant to be topped with the avocado cream, it keeps it nice and moist and the combinations go really well together. You can always use salsa or even classic cashew cheese to keep it moist as well 🙂

Galit Sela

Hi! It looks really good and I would like to try it. Can you please tell us which taco you use? A specific brand would help (: thanks! Galit

Many of my recipes are vegan friendly! Simply explore on the recipe pages 🙂

Diana

I am so amazed by how great these tasted!!! Not eating red meat is new for me, so I have been trying alternatives to ground beef, and I honestly thought these tasted better than ground beef. So excited to add this to my core list of recipes.